ORGANISERS


What is the From Zero To Fintech ?
The contemporary Fintech market is a jungle. With this Hackathon, we – BFA, FEBA at Sofia University, and our partners, are aiming at guiding you through all booby traps, deadly insects, and fierce predators well-hidden in the Fintech world of 2022. In a series of workshops, the event provides all participants with the tools to:
- Build a fire – creating a sustainable Fintech idea
- Find a source of drinking water – pitching before investors
- Find a shelter – be in compliance with regulations
- Sailing at the open market – awards provided by our sponsors, in the form of services will help your ideas come to life


Who is it for?
From Zero To Fintech is open to everyone who has been flying or is about to jump in the plane of Finance, IT, Marketing, Sales, Law, etc. We welcome aboard all Fintech-savvy disruptors who are not afraid to face the market reality and test their abilities and ideas.
Sounds like you?
Register now!
UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF





SUPPORTED BY







PARTNERS
General Partner

Platinum Sponsor


Bronze Sponsor

CHALLENGES
- Build your own FinTech startup
a. Make your own Future in Finance: Develop and test an idea from the ground up
b. Get the best advice from our mentors to prepare for an independent entrepreneurial path and (maybe 😉) become the new Robinhood™ -
Case studies
a. Provide solutions to cases suggested by Bulgarian and international companies and government institutions
b. Get noticed by FinTech and BigTech companies that search for TOP talent - Open Banking
a. Get a free access to the API-simulator of the first Open Banking provider in Bulgaria: IRIS Solutions
b. Apply your advanced IT skills and develop open banking solutions for payments, credit risk management, asset management, insurance, green finance, smart regulation and smart cities, and more
Note: Your FinTech startup ideas and the case study solutions may involve application of Open Banking
JURY
Public Sector:

Boryana Bogdanova
Vice Dean at FEBA
Sofia University

Desislava Manova
Elevate Accelerator

Miroslav Stoyanov
Manager
EBRD

Bozhidar Nedev
Sofia University
UK Fintech Representatives
US Fintech Representative

Ekaterina Borisova
FCA
United Kingdom

Ani Petrova
The Fintech Marketing
Hub

Assen Tchorbadjiev

Emil Koulov
Bulgarian Fintech Sector Representatives

Svetlin Sabev
the BoD
StikCredit

Daniel Dzholev
Unicredit Bulbank

Ivelin Kamburov
BoD Member
Credissimo

Boyan Stefanov Griffen

Stephan Simmang
flatexDEGIRO

George Galtchin
TBI Bank
WORKSHOP MENTORS – FINTECH WIZARDS

Veselina Markova
Eleven Ventures

Pavel Panayotov
Hackathon Winner
2021

Stoyan Pedev
CEO of Conquex
IBM Champion Blockchain

Ivan Vankov
Principal Blockchain Architect
IBM Champion

Marina Shideroff
Founder & CEO of
FRAM Creative Solutions

Georgi Stoyanov

Neda Muzho
Financial Superv. Commission

Mihael Mihaylov
Co-founder & BDO
Iris Solutions
BUSINESS CASE MENTORS

Stefan Atanasov

Loic Le Pichoux
Klear Lending

Galya Dimitrova
Managing Partner
Iris Solutions

Mihael Mihaylov
Co-founder and BDO
Iris Solutions
WORKSHOP MENTORS

Deyan Radev, Phd
and Banking, Sofia University

Nikolay Stoykov
DIGITALL
AGENDA
# | Name of Workshop | Organization involved | Company name | Speaker | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Fintech ecosystem in Bulgaria & Fintech Start-up Journey |
NGO | BFA & 2021 Hackathon Winner | Georgi Penev & Pavel Panayotov |
13:30 – 14:00 |
2 | Top 3 technologies in Fintech | Private company | IBM Champions | Stoyan Pedev & Ivan Vankov |
14:00 – 14:30 |
3 | Learn how to fundraise. Insiders guide to get to term sheet | Venture capital | Eleven Ventures | Veselina Markova | 14:30 – 15:30 |
4 | BREAK | 15:30 – 16:00 | |||
5 | Fintech UX | Design firm | Fram Creative Solutions | Marina Shiderof | 16:00 – 17:00 |
6 | Market and sell your solution | Marketing firm | Limacon | Georgi Stoyanov | 17:00-18:00 |
7 | Top 5 applications of Open Banking in 2022 | Fintech | Iris Solutions | Mihael Mihaylov | 18:00 – 18:15 |
8 | Speed up your go-to-market with Innovation Hub by FSC Bulgaria | Regulator | Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria | Neda Muzho | 18:15-18:45 |
PRINCIPLES
Fulfill these principles and let your creativity rise and shine
ELIGIBILITY
The hackathon welcomes everyone interested in the field of finance. Whether you are a business, IT, Marketing, Sales or Law focused, or just a Fintech-savvy who wants to be the creator of the next generation Fintech, that’s the place for you!
TEAM SIZE
If you don’t have a team yet, during the event we will help you form teams of up to 6 people. The dream team would look like: 1.Finance 2. IT 3. Marketing 4. Sales 5. Legal. Teams with 50-50 women-men receive extra points.
CHECK-IN IS A MUST
All participants have to register by 23:59 on 18th March.
SUBMIT ON TIME
All teams should submit their work by 23:59 on 26th March. Any presentations submitted after will be invalid.
OWNERSHIP AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Teams have full ownership of everything they create during the event. Teams are free to do with it as they see wish.
BE NICE WITH EACH OTHER
We are all here to have fun and learn from the best. No need for hard feelings. Keep your cool 🙂
COMMON QUESTIONS
Before you ask, check these Q&As
The Hackathon is completely FREE of charge. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Don’t worry about that, you just fill in the form below and type in a short bio of yours, ideas, passion, interests and so on. The Hackathon is about meeting new, fresh people. We will get you in a team according to your interests and profile. But, still there will be plenty of time for everyone to meet other and pick teams before the start of the actual hacking.
In the COVID times we will use Slack, Microsoft Teams, Miro as a whiteboard and Google.
The business cases are provided by BFA member companies who are willing to challenge you in resolving a real-life problem. Get the puzzle sorted and you can expect a call from them.
Of course you can! You are more than welcome to work on your own idea. Make sure it matches Judge’s expectations and workshops’ training. If you don’t have a team yet, you better hurry and share your idea with the audience, so you get the best chances on building the team you dreamed of.
Mentors are there to help you. They will make the best out of their schedule to meet and discuss relevant topics to them. If you are having an idea on Regtech you will be provided with the list of mentors on Regtech. Give them a shout and schedule a suitable time for both your team and your mentor.
Iris PSD2 HUB is a platform that benefits all innovative financial companies and institutions which are interested in applying Open-banking in their products and services. Using a single-integration API to IRIS PSD2 HUB, anyone can access all banks and financial institutions on the platform: 13 banks in Bulgaria, Revolut, Paysera, banks in Greece and Romania.
The best ideas will receive awards, provided by our sponsors, in the form of services that will further support the development of the ideas and help them step up on the market.
From Zero To Fintech Hackathon is not about the winning, it’s about the learning. Through the hackathons and the process of working in teams you will get unique insights about the Fintech market and meet amazing people on the way. There is always a next year and you will more than welcomed to join once again 🙂
Good wi-fi and a PC. Most importantly – passion to work in a team and a smile on your face.
If we haven’t answer to all your questions, feel free to drop us a line at: [email protected]
JUDGING CRITERIA
To win this race you need to go the whole nine yards. So you better get an idea on how your idea will be evaluated.
PRIZES

IRIS PSD 2 Prize
Iris solutions provides free of charge services and access to PSD 2 productional environmentIRIS Open Banking Prize
The winner of Iris’s prize receives 9-month free-of-charge access to the productional environment of IRIS PSD 2 HUB where there are more than 20 integrated payments institutions. In addition, Iris Open banking winner becomes Iris Solutions representative and gets 1-year access to IRIS Solutions SDK for mobile apps and Web.

Mystery Award
Something like a mystery box but for Fintech startupsMystery Award
The winner of this prize gets a special award which will be revealed at the final of the Fintech Hackathon.

StikCredit Award
StikCredit offers a post-hackathon mentorship for the best Fintech ideaStikCredit Award
StikCredit is ready to provide the best From Zero to Fintech team and ideat with a biweekly post-hackathon mentorship program for the next 3 months.

BGN 3,000
BFA provides BGN 3,000 to the winner of From Zero To Fintech 2022 HackathonThe BFA prize
The winner of the BFA prize receives BGN 3,000 that should be used for the realisation of the Fintech created during the event. The prize will be given to the team with the best overall performance throughout the hackathon.
ABOUT THE ORGANISERS